VIP Chapter 386: Young Master’s Mission (3k)
【Mission 433: Defeat the Fire Dragon Al.】
“The name isn’t Al…”
Iaael looked at the heart in her hand, confirming the name of the Fire Dragon engraved on it. She was always too fast for Young Master Will’s liking, so she never had the chance to ask the name of every Fire Dragon she killed.
Fortunately, she discovered one day that she could directly read the inscribed name from the Fire Dragon’s heart.
This time, the name was Alpha. For Iaael, who could barely decipher a few syllables, this name was at least somewhat closer.
“Mission incomplete. Therefore… ‘Iaael’ will continue to work hard.”
Her gaze lowered, a flicker of emotion rare enough to be noticeable in her gray eyes.
She opened the booklet she had personally bound. On the cover, in her own handwriting, was written “Young Master’s Missions.”
“Tomorrow, Iaael will continue as per your instructions, Young Master.”
In the darkness of night, she raised her head, gazing at her reflection in the mirror.
The beast ears on her head looked as soft as ever.
Her orange and brown mixed hair was also neatly and smoothly styled.
The Hysterm Family’s matching maid outfit was spotlessly clean.
Everything was the same as when the Young Master was still by her side, everything was the same as when they were still at the Hysterm Family’s home, everything was the same as…
…when he was still alive, when she was still his personal maid, when she hadn’t made a mistake that made him want to run away from her.
“Good night. Iaael.”
“Good night. Young Master Will.”
She reached out and caressed her collar. Because the collar was made of leather, it had aged and cracked from months of continuous fighting. No amount of skill could restore it.
But she wouldn’t take it off.
Because the collar personally put on by the Young Master was the only one left.
Finally, she stood before the small booklet on the table, hands clasped in front of her chest, and bowed deeply.
That’s right, everything must be the same as when the Young Master was still here…
Except, as she raised her eyes again, her gray irises seemed to have lost their light, leaving only a cold, persistent devotion to “the mission he left behind.”
And…
The maid outfit she wore was black, like a mourning dress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every day for Iaael began with the purpose of completing the mission Young Master Will had left behind.
Every day for Iaael was spent repeating the missions Young Master Will had left behind.
Every day for Iaael was…
…an attempt to still feel as though she was living in the past.
Greeting the sun rising from the other side of the horizon, she opened the first page of “Young Master’s Missions” and carefully read the overall mission:
【Mission 433: Defeat the Fire Dragon Al.】
This page had been meticulously cut out with a paper cutter from Young Master Will’s “Quest System,” which he had written by hand, and very carefully pasted onto the page.
Afterward—
【Mission: High-temperature directional training.】
Iaael shed the nightgown she was wearing and, completely naked, walked towards the “sauna room” located on the first basement level of this small building.
It had been constructed exactly, one-to-one, to recreate the sauna room Young Master Will had built for her.
The energy output was even greater than Young Master Will’s sauna, with the temperature capable of directly soaring over seven hundred degrees Celsius.
Her expression remained blank. She simply treated it all as a mission and directly pushed the sauna’s temperature to its maximum, then opened the door.
Her palms and body were covered in ice armor, but she was naked, wearing no other protective gear. In this state, she slowly walked into the steam, which was even hotter than some Fire Dragon lava.
The high-temperature training actually offered her little improvement. Even for Al, Young Master Will’s records showed a maximum of only five hundred degrees Celsius.
But…
This was a mission written by her Young Master.
If he were to return someday, wouldn’t he be happy to see that her high-temperature tolerance had improved?
【Mission: Endurance directional training.】
Wearing an ordinary maid outfit, Iaael attached highly dense crystals to her feet as weights and ran ten kilometers.
Concurrently, she completed one hundred repetitions of weightlifting, one hundred squats, and one hundred sit-ups.
Exercises that once felt incredibly long, often prompting her to give Young Master Will pleading looks, and that she only dared to do once every few weeks, had now become daily tasks she could complete expressionlessly, without even a gasp for breath.
The endurance and stamina training held no particular significance for her either, as there were no longer any companions in this world who could last long enough to attack her after she began to falter.
But…
This was also a mission written by her Young Master.
If he were to return someday, wouldn’t he be happy to see her completing these physical training exercises with a smile?
【Mission: Train the ability to brew black tea at the right temperature.】
Iaael stood in the room’s kitchen. Every tea leaf meticulously placed in the cup was measured with precise dosage.
Even the temperature of the boiling water was carefully adjusted.
*Snap—*
Pouring the water into the teacup, the sound of steam rising from the tea and the gradually darkening black tea water could be heard.
Her gray eyes reflected the tea leaves continuously swirling and settling at the bottom of the cup, but her expression remained unchanged.
She took a sip of the black tea she had brewed.
“…It’s still the same taste. No problem.”
She didn’t drink the cup of black tea herself. Instead, as she used to, she placed the tea on the dining table.
No one would drink it.
And she never intended for anyone to taste it.
Therefore, in the afternoon, when it had cooled to a point unsuitable for the Young Master’s consumption, she would pour it all away.
Because this was…
…a mission left by the Young Master.
If he were to return someday, wouldn’t he be happy to find that his long-unsipped black tea still tasted the same as before?
【Mission: Maintain and upgrade suitable weapons.】
Iaael skillfully and lightly took down the shield hanging on the wall, which she regarded as a “precious item.”
She meticulously completed every step of the shield’s maintenance and adjustment, not missing a single detail.
The shield, named “Snow Chant Shield,” was always polished to a brilliant shine, yet without losing its original patterns and colors due to excessive cleaning and maintenance.
She would repeatedly rub and examine the shield, placing her ear against it to feel its temperature and listen to the crisp sound it made when struck by her hand.
If he were to return someday, wouldn’t he be happy to find that she was still using his old shield?
【Mission: Read “Blackening 300 Questions.”】
【Mission: Repeatedly study the Fire Dragon subjugation rules.】
【Mission: Train to react to Fire Dragon attacks and abilities.】
【Mission: Learn and comprehend “Ice Array (Attack).”】
…
Iaael completed them one by one, ticking them off. She continued this boring, monotonous task for five whole months.
From the harsh winter to the blooming spring, and then to the late spring approaching summer.
But she did not feel weary.
Because…
…these were the Young Master’s missions.
This was what the Young Master loved to do—
Watching her repeatedly train, believing that under the accumulation of “quantitative change,” she would one day achieve “qualitative change.”
By doing what he loved, could she earn his forgiveness?
Could she see him return one day?
Could she once again see his happy smile?
…
Still lost in these thoughts, Iaael noticed that her lunch on the table was now reduced to a few leaves of lettuce.
This lunch seemed to be the umpteenth time she had eaten a healthy salad with beef cubes.
The salad’s vegetables were so green that the bowl of greens, no matter how you looked at it, didn’t resemble food for a “wolf.”
But it was undoubtedly healthy, as it was the last recipe Young Master Will had left behind, a recipe he had coaxed her into eating with a gentle pat on her head.
She picked up a lettuce leaf with her fork and put it in her mouth.
Chew.
Chew.
Chew again.
Even after chewing until it lost all taste, even to the point where she didn’t want to swallow, she forced herself to swallow it all.
It’s okay…
“Because I’m just the Young Master’s dog, after all.”
She raised her head, gazing at the morbid smile in the mirror that certainly didn’t appear from happiness, and caressed her collar as she uttered these words.
She once again adjusted the collar and hem of her maid dress, tidied her stray hairs, ensuring she was always a perfect maid—a perfect maid for the Young Master, not for the Hysterm Family.
Of course…
As for her most, most, most beloved Young Master, the one who always had forward-thinking ideas, who could always meticulously plan everything, the one with whom following him was always the right choice…
He had his programmed, his finally designated, ultimate mission—
Beyond these missions that had to be ticked off one by one every day, missions that even she, with her poor memory, could recite—
The Fire Dragon.
The Fire Dragon Al.
In the Young Master’s “Quest System,” it was designated as her nemesis, an enemy that Will wished her to defeat. Of course, this also meant…
It was something her Young Master hated, something her Young Master wanted her to kill, the “little fire dragon” that had lived in his words since she first knew him.
She had to find it, and she absolutely had to kill it.
Iaael tilted her head, her ears wagging along with it—tilting in the opposite direction.
Then, she tilted her head back and looked at the wall in front of her.
A mirror was placed there, a wall that allowed her to constantly check if her appearance met the Young Master’s requirements.
In front of it lay “Young Master’s Missions,” a wall that allowed her to constantly review what she should be doing.
And…
A wall displaying countless, blood-soaked, even appearing to still be alive and pulsing, of varying sizes…
…dozens of Fire Dragon hearts.
These hearts were placed in special glass bottles, the kind adventurers used to store special monster organs like hearts. Iaael now used them to “display” all her loot.
Each heart represented a Fire Dragon she had hunted and personally killed.
It was just a shame…
She hadn’t found Al yet.
The Fire Dragon Killer, Iaael, once again confirmed her own “mission.”
